Adam Frank: On Doing Physics and Being a Subject: Varela International Symposium 2022 (5 of 8)

Physicist and Zen practitioner Adam Frank gives a characteristically energetic, humorous, and enlightening overview of the state of physics in the West and how Buddhism may and may not be able to contribute to its understanding of the universe. He contrasts what he calls the “blind spots” of certain forms of physics, which include objective ontologies, materialism, and reification of mathematical laws, with an understanding that views physical nature and experience as equally important, and that values the abstract while knowing that it is not prior to the particular but grows out it. Adam reviews a  radically subjectivist form of quantum mechanics called QBism that takes experience, embodiment, and enaction seriously. He also gives an impassioned critique of popular “Quantum Buddhism” and offers alternative approaches for how Buddhism and physics could inform one another. The big question of physics has been: What is the world without us? Adam reframes this as: When subject and object meet each other, what happens? “Of course there is a world without us. It’s just not this one. The world we live in is the human world. It’s the world of subject and object. And that’s what we’re given and that’s what we have to understand.” To access the resources page for this program, please sign up by clicking here. For Program/Series description and to access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: Varela International Symposium 2022